Comeback girl SJ scores big wins on way to Netsuite Open title

Warwickshire’s Sarah-Jane Perry secured the Netsuite Open title with a hard fought victory over Malaysan superstar Nicol David.

In the women’s $50k event, 2015 runner-up Perry – who dispatched top seed and defending champion Laura Massaro in the semi-finals – had won the last three meetings between her and David but was up against it as her opponent, an eight-time World Champion, surged into a two-game lead courtesy of some precise attacking at the front of the court.

27-year-old Perry fought back in the third to halve the deficit before squandering two game balls in the fourth to hand David a championship ball.

But a fortuitous nick off a Perry cross court handed the initiative back to the player from England, and she converted her next game ball before holding her nerve in the decider to seal an 8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-7 victory that sees her pick up the ninth Tour title of her career and her first since 2015.